Clamor for U.S. Citizenship Spurs
A National Debate on the Cause

By

Marjorie Valbrun Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal

Updated Feb. 25, 1999 12:49 a.m. ET

Maria Flores, a Mexican immigrant who lives in Los Angeles, often considered becoming an American citizen during her more than 30 years in the U.S., but kept putting it off. Then she began to worry the government would cut off her health benefits, as it was doing to thousands of other legal immigrants around the country.

"I was afraid," she says. So two years ago, Ms. Flores, who is 66 years old and dependent on Social...